Developing W-ICAD as a means of enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion within museum digital audio interpretation

博物馆的核心目的是与观众交流他们的收藏品。在AHRC-NEH资助的项目（AH/W 005549/1）中，我们开发了包容性共同创建的音频描述研讨会（W-ICAD）。W-ICAD为博物馆提供了一个支持与观众交流的新工具。它通过重新定义博物馆思考和制作数字化音频描述（AD）的方式来做到这一点。AD通常被描述为对通过视觉获得的信息的口头描述。对于希望体验博物馆藏品的盲人和部分盲人观众来说，这是一个重要工具。在英国和美国，博物馆在法律上有义务确保其收藏品的公平使用。然而，博物馆需要在博物馆内和网上大幅增加广告供应。基于数字革命带来的机遇，W-ICAD为博物馆提供了一种新的、公平的和包容性的方式来共同创造广告。它提供了一个理论基础和一个实际的过程，将改变博物馆数字音频解释在博物馆内使用（通常通过移动的电话）或在线。W-ICAD通过利用心理学和神经科学的证据来改变思维，反驳当前博物馆AD实践中的三个关键隐性偏见：（1）通过视觉的“体验”是客观的;（2）AD只对盲人或部分盲人有益;（3）全视觉为人们提供了视觉艺术的特权体验，因此，有视力的人必须为盲人和半盲的听众进行描述。W-ICAD通过为博物馆提供一个制作广告的模型来改变实践，该模型重新定义了博物馆广告是如何创建的，它是为谁创建的，以及谁进行描述：接受描述者的主观性和生活经验;为盲人，部分盲人和视力正常的观众平等地创建描述;描述由部分盲人共同创作者领导，与盲人和视力正常的共同创作者合作。通过W-ICAD，我们改变了观众（在博物馆和在线）体验博物馆藏品的方式。这一后续影响和参与资金将使我们能够将W-ICAD嵌入博物馆实践，同时扩大其在博物馆和遗产领域的影响力。我们将与英国和美国的8家旗舰W-ICAD博物馆合作，使包容性的共同创建的音频描述成为他们与观众交流的标准部分。合作伙伴包括：全球领先的国家机构（英国国家科学与媒体博物馆、英国帝国战争博物馆达克斯福德、英国国家博物馆利物浦、英国自然历史博物馆、美国史密森学会）、大中型博物馆（美国艾特约格博物馆和美国韦克斯纳艺术中心）和小型机构（美国Heurich House）。与这些行业合作伙伴一起，我们将扩大W-ICAD，以纳入：- 不同环境的描述（包括外部），不同的艺术品（包括摘要）和博物馆物品-为多感官体验共同创建的音频描述，包括描述触觉探索-不同的生活体验（例如交叉性，不同的文化背景）在博物馆的解释-指导W-ICAD，以支持合作，为了最大限度地扩大W-ICAD的覆盖范围，并确保其遗产，我们将与我们的旗舰博物馆合作，为博物馆专业人员，AD从业人员和利益相关者创建开放式在线W-ICAD培训课程。这将使世界各地的其他博物馆能够在其数字广告（博物馆内或在线提供）的解释策略中实施W-ICAD。在博物馆实践中推广和实施这一模式将加强对当前实践中的能人偏见的认识，并在博物馆部门内外加强公平，多样性和包容性。

Central to the purpose of a museum is communicating with their audiences about their collections. Within the AHRC-NEH funded project (AH/W005549/1) we developed the Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD). W-ICAD provides museums with a new tool for supporting communication with audiences. It does this by redefining the way that museums think about and produce digitally available recorded audio description (AD). AD is often described as a verbal description for information available through vision. It is a key tool for blind and partially blind audiences who would like to experience museum collections. In both the UK and US, museums are legally obliged to ensure equitable access to their collections. However, museums need to dramatically increase AD provision both within museums and online. Building on opportunities afforded by the digital revolution, W-ICAD provides museums with a new, equitable and inclusive way to co-create AD. It provides both a theoretical rationale and a practical process that will transform museum digital audio interpretation for use within the museum (often via a mobile phone) or online. W-ICAD transforms thinking by drawing on evidence from psychology and neuroscience to refute three key implicit biases that underpin current museum AD practice: (1) 'experience' through sight is objective; (2) AD is only beneficial to blind or partially blind people; and (3) full sight provides people with a privileged experience of visual arts, and therefore sighted people must do the describing for blind and partially blind listeners. W-ICAD transforms practice by providing museums with a model for producing AD that redefines how museum AD is created, who it is for, and who does the describing: subjectivity and the lived experience of the describers is embraced; descriptions are created equally for blind, partially blind and sighted audiences; description is led by partially blind co-creators, in collaboration with blind and sighted co-creators. Through W-ICAD, we have transformed the ways in which museum collections can be experienced by audiences (in museums and online).This follow-on impact and engagement funding will enable us to embed W-ICAD into museum practice, whilst extending its reach within the museum and heritage sector. We will work with 8 flagship W-ICAD museums, across the UK and US, to make inclusive co-created audio description a standard part of their communication with audiences. The partners include: globally-leading national organisations (National Science and Media Museum, UK; Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK; National Museums Liverpool, UK; Natural History Museum, UK; Smithsonian Institution, US); Medium - large size museums (Eiteljorg Museum, US & Wexner Center for the Arts, US) and Small organisations (Heurich House, US). With these sector partners, we will expand W-ICAD to incorporate: - description of different environments (including exterior), different artworks (including abstract) and museum objects- co-created audio description for multisensory experience including describing tactile exploration - different lived experiences (e.g.intersectionality, diverse cultural backgrounds) within museum interpretation- guidance for W-ICAD to support co-creators to ethically and sensitively describe diversityTo maximise the reach of W-ICAD, and to ensure its legacy, we will work with our flagship museums to create an open access online W-ICAD training course for museum professionals, AD practitioners and stakeholders. This will enable other museums across the world to implement W-ICAD within their interpretation strategy for digital AD (available within the museum or online). The promotion and implementation of this model within museum practice will strengthen awareness of the ableist biases within current practice and enhance equity, diversity and inclusion within the museum sector and beyond.